Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Z-40's gun traced to San Antonio gun dealer

Borderland BeatAn assault rifle seized during the July arrest of one of Mexico's most violent drug lords —Miguel Angel “Z-40” Treviño Morales — has been traced to a shady gun seller whose home in Big Spring was searched last week and netted what authorities said was a “small arsenal.”More than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 76 guns and $15,000 in cash were seized from Manuel "Manny" Rodriguez, 65, who was sentenced in 2002 to 47 months in the federal penitentiary after being caught in California selling machine guns and other firearms without a license.Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations also found that some of Rodriguez's customers, perhaps unbeknownst to Rodriguez, were supplying the Zetas with assault rifles and specifically seeking sellers like Rodriguez.Rodriguez, agents found, had been selling guns from various tables at SAXET gun shows by exploiting the so-called “gun show loophole.”By posing as a private seller disposing of his “personal” collection, he was circumventing rules that required him to get a license and to conduct background checks on his buyers, authorities contend. And, because he is a convicted felon, Rodriguez should not have had guns in the first place, they argue.He is charged, for the moment, with being a felon in possession of a firearm.“A cooperating witness indicated he and others would go to Manuel Rodriguez and his son to buy AK-47s from them,” ATF special agent Christopher Benavidestestified at the bail hearing. “They would then give (the weapons) to others who would smuggle them to the Zetas.”When Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hulings asked if that was the only link to the Zetas that agents found, Benavides dropped a bombshell.Benavides said he and another agent traced a “Century Arms AK-47 variant” recovered in Mexico to a “cooperating citizen” in San Antonio.That person, Benavides said, then sold the gun to Rodriguez's son, and Rodriguez is believed to have sold it to someone else at one of the gun shows.

“This gun was recovered from Miguel Treviño, Z-40, along with other firearms and some cash during his arrest,” Benavides said. “Z-40 was head of the Zetas at the time.”In July, a Mexican navy helicopter tracked the 40-year-old Zetas leader, known by his radio call sign “El 40,” “Z-40” “Cuarenta” and other variants of the number in Spanish, on a rural road near the Texas line outside Nuevo Laredo. He was arrested and is being held in a Mexican jail.Under cross-examination by Rodriguez's lawyer, Benavides said he had no evidence that Rodriguez knew that any of his guns would wind up in the hands of the Zetas or make their way its leader who had reportedly ordered hits in Laredo and whose bloodthirstiness was known on both sides of the border.During an investigation that lasted several months, agents watched, then videotaped Rodriguez at the gun shows in San Antonio and Austin. In an undercover sting, an agent bought a Intratec 9mm Uzi from Rodriguez for $650 at an Austin gun show, Benavides said.

During last week's raid, agents intercepted Rodriguez as he and his son left home towing a trailer to another gun show, Benavides said. There were numerous guns in the trailer, and several more were found in the home - almost half of them assault-style rifles along with ammo and a safe with $15,000, Benavides testified.In a pitch to keep Rodriguez locked up, prosecutor Hulings told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo that Rodriguez “has been in and out of jail” since he was 22 for a variety of crimes including assault, and “has a lot of trouble complying with the law.”Hulings added that Rodriguez owes more than $260,000 in child support in California - so much that the Texas Attorney General has tried to garnish his wages - yet hid $15,000 in suspected proceeds from the sale of guns.

“He's well aware he cannot possess guns,” Hulings argued. “He was selling to people without checking where (the guns) were going. He was in possession of a small arsenal.”The arguments did little to sway the judge, until Primomo learned that Rodriguez was on probation on an unrelated offense last year while selling guns.“I was ready to release him on bond until I heard that,” Primomo said. The judge ordered Rodriguez held pending trial.

I'm an artist who devotes as much spare time as possible to studying the complexities of the drug war facing Mexico and the USA. It is essential to spread the word about the plight of Mexico, so I frequently post on Borderland Beat. It's true that there are many others devoted to the cause. But more people should care because such suffering should never go unnoticed and ignored. Allowing that to happen is perhaps the biggest crime of all. Feel free to email me. Adios HavanaPura@Gmail.com

z40 (la tetanic) can have a phone in jail,and chapo will be monitoring,to try and catch the messages and the associates on the outside,fucking trevi is fucked up,even his lawyers,after consulting with him run to talk to chalice,and that is fucked up!

Drugs move up north money and guns head down south I wouldn't be surprise if some military personal is arming the sinaloa cartel.. The sinaloa cartel Is the well armed cartel in Mexico in talkin about javelins RPGs weApons that could bring down a helicopter or a commercial airline vicente Zambada "mayo Zambada" son is arguing that chapo Guzman has a close tie to the CIA and the DEA to get time reduced instead of tryin to argue where did z40 got his gun from look into bigger things like vicente Zambada

DO NOT FORGET ALL THE GUN WALKING DONE BY ERICK HOLDER UNDER THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY.... this put many ATF and other Federal agents in harms way working in Mexico.....yet they had no knowledge of the gun walking done by there co workers....that is an atrocity.....the guns were being used against Mexican Law Enforcement and US Law Enforcement working in Mexico....... IT WAS JUST WRONG....

here we go again,because you went there again. that gunrunning started under george w bush maybe without his knowledge,the idea then as now,to help the poor gun manufacturers get their claws on some of that narcos'money,a little of which ends up in the pockets of the nra,see everybody wins, don't think OBAMA,HOLDER, OR BUSH would put their reputations on the line like that,looks more like some of their trusted people abused their trust

it is not Obama or Holders's fault dummy,it is all the prostitutes in Congress that have sold their arses to the nra and the forces of evil,hellbent on having as many weapons around for when they need it for the coup of state,that is how the nazis took over,all oligarchs do that,foster discontent thru communist propaganda, and the weaponized rabble will cook it for you,later you steal it back,when only the sheep are left there,it will be a pity to see the sunset of the America we know and love,with the freedoms it still has for DA PEOPLE!

Selling a gun to someone who has a felony conviction or a domestic abuse charge is a felony in and of itself. Obviously the bad guys will have all the guns in the world, despite all the gun control. If you want to do something that works, ENFORCE THE LAWS THAT ARE THERE. And that gun store had the person who bought it run a NICS background check like everyone else. And you want to know how absurd the DOJ (who gave a few thousand guns to Mexico themselves) is when it comes to enforcing the laws, since Obama has appointed Erik Holder, there has been over 18,000 NICS background checks that were denied. How many of those do you think they pursued? Eight. Yes, only eight (8 if you can't read). It's a felony to lie on the form, or its even worse of a penalty if you bought it for someone else. For god sakes, enforce the laws we have!

The NRA opposes background checks on private gun sales because this would stop the massive flow of weapons to Mexican traffickers and US gangs dead in it's tracks.

The sales of millions of guns to traffickers and gangs is the bread and butter of the US firearms industry, allowing continual sales gains, year after year. This is because many of these guns are shipped out of the country, and/or seized by police.

Once these guns are seized or dumped at a murder scene, the cycle starts again, fueling ever increasing sales for US gun manufacturers.

A bit off topic but gun advocates "macaroni and cheese" mantra (I call it so because it's so bad and they actually fancy it passes as an argument) that arming citizens with guns as self defense helps (I have read here in BB naive comic book like comments , "we'll be waiting for them with lead")is extremely ill informed and, considering the gravity of the situation, just plain stupid. How quickly these gung-ho warriors forget the reason guns are rampant in Mexico despite strict laws is because of the rampant corruption. This is just my personal and biased opinion but having lived through gang violence here in the U.S. I don't recall citizens (research the Mexicans Mafias timeline and the numerous murders committed in Califas)repelling or preventing any of it because they owned a gun.

@3:47 p.m u dont live down south then.theres a reason they call it the dirty south lol.there were several home invasions by gang members here that were stopped cold by some redneck that had the same kind of weapons they did.some of the thugs were shot at as they were tryin to get out of the house.ill take my chances with one than without one!

3:47 what is comic is that LA TUTA AND THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MICHOACAN'S WIVES ARE SISTERS! and that la tuta's sicarios kill people, police officers,soldiers,politicians with great impunity,but a few badly armed and organized comunitary police can chase them out of their little villages,fucking messican ginirals should drink some communitary polices'piss,to maybe become real men...

if our commander in chief who could have invaded a whole country to disarm them cannot, with the Congress, get past the NRA/Arms companies money and lobby to stop this kind of character from legally getting weapons, we are in trouble. There absolutely needs to be a standardized background check for all States and localities for purchase and concealed permits so that the states and federal legislatures cannot be lobbyed anymore by the NRA leadership and the weapons manufactures. If, in part, because of the lack of regulation, it is a real National Security issue. Enough already with all the snopping of our personal communications by the intel. spys. SECURE THE WEAPONS!most background checks are conducted by the private sector, not by the government. Just ask Alexis from fortworth , Texas !!!!¡

11:20,I would not call bro a jackass like that,they blame Obama too,depending on what asshole they lend their ears to get winded like...robots? but retards can't help it,z40(la tetanic) promoted herself by impressing the big boys in the zetas cartel with his murdering skills,he did not get to the top for nothing,the money he had proves it,no matter how many lawyers like Raul salinas de gortari's deny it,he also publicized his misdeeds on narcomantas,he had fun now he has to pay!fuck the nuthuggerzzzzz! yezzz youuu!

Ah yeah I read this on the news! I think this is a good example of the fact that while many Americans are pushing for a review of gun laws themselves, we should be aware that the existing laws aren't always being held up. If a guy like this is able to have guns when it's illegal, how many others are the same? And how different would the gun situation in the States be if the exiting laws were enforced more strongly?

Assault rifles are military weapons capable of automatic fire. The weapons imported into the U.S by companies like Century Firearms are civilian versions which are semi-automatic only! Therefore NOT an assault rifle.

I think gun laws should stay the way they are. If laws are tightened, the guns will only be in the hands of criminals. Because criminals will do whatever it takes to get their hands on guns regardless of the laws. The unarmed would be law abiding citizens.

@11:08 p.m no, its drugs and mental illness that causes the violence.they dont always need a gun to dispense their violence.look at timothy mcveigh and the boston bombers.if they are hellbent on it they will find a way with or without guns!!!

The U.S.A. govt. exports arms inorder to arm rebel movements and actually arms govt.s that are essentially dictatorships. How could any govt. official then turn around and say you can't own a firearm and have the right of defending your physical integrity, and that of your family's, if the need arose. That would make the govt. hypocritical. That is the spirit of the 2nd amendment. The right of the citizens to mobilize and prepare to defend themselves from a tyrannical govt. if the need arose would make another reason. The authorities can't even enforce the laws already in the books! They're uncapable or unwilling to actually enforcing the laws, yet they want to disarm the law abiding citizenry. Believe me, the criminals dont obey the laws. Manny Rodriguez is a perfect example of that argument. Violence is a part of human nature. Until every human evolves above the propensity for violence in humans, and the propensity for evil in some humans, the right to defend oneself/ their familiy's, from harm will exist. The problem in Mexico is not that cartels have guns. The problem is that the law abiding don't have access to them. However, when they do have equal firepower, you have what you had last week when 15 CTs lay dead after a firefight! I think even the Mexico military took note of the incident. They haven't attempted to disarm the PCs who they themselves can't defend since that incident.

It's interesting to hear all the debate about mental health vs gun control as it pertains to mass shootings, and then to read a story like this. What I mean is there are lots of people in the US (and more in Mex) who are totally willing to commit mass murder, and don't necessarily have what we'd call 'mental health' problems. I can't imagine Z40 being cured by a therapist for example.

@10:31a.m guess what? All the mass shootings are always in a gun free zone and theres a reason for that as they are cowards and dont want to get shot at themselves.they never open fire in a gun show or police station now whys that? Lol

I'm not a liberal democrat. i own guns, but I don't know why kooks should be allowed to buy guns so easily?It does nothing besides cause people pain? Why is common sense a liberal ideology? Since when do liberals want to give up rights any more than right wingers? People just don't want neeess mass slaughter of potentially mant innocent people because someone ate tooany twinkies or forgot their meds.

@ September 18, 2013 at 6:20 PMI agree, gun control isn't a solution to violence, since it's not the underlying cause. However, it can still reduce it.I wonder how Z40 and the zetas would have operated if they hadn't had access to guns.

I'm from Laredo, Tx, and the things I've heard about Z40 would make me almost grateful if he decided to only shoot me. I'm not trying to glorify him like a boogeyman or anything, but I feel it's important for people to know about these things:He just took torture and murder to a whole other level for its own right. It wasn't just about money at all, the violence was a thing all on its own.He would make his young sicarios watch while he did things like burn people's hands and faces with blowtorches, and tell them to look at the victim's face while he did it, in order to get them comfortable seeing people in pain. He wanted to train sicarios to do the same things, to grow a community of sadistic murderers so he could relish in the violence around him. And he's been known to rape people (like a young girl connected with La Barbie).He's grown a reputation in my city that's pretty well unparalleled by anyone. If you're looking for one guy who's at the heart of the bloodshed (not the drug trafficking, the bloodshed), it's Miguel Trevino.

the 2nd amendment is about being equal arms to government, it is a natural right that comes from our humanity.

Democide has killed 260 million people

"The fact is that firearm technology exists. It cannot be uninvented. ...Those that wish to have guns, and disregard the law, will have guns. Gun control makes violence safer and more effective for the aggressive, whether the aggressor is a terrorist or a government." -ron paul

how about we give liberty a chance , stop the war on drugs

why isnt their background checks on the al qaeda rebels being armed in syria?

@ September 18, 2013 at 9:38 PMI'm from Laredo as well, and I know exactly what you mean. It was a HUGE relief to hear he was captured, even though a lot of people chose not to talk about it (for good reason). Z40 was like a kid in a playground; he could get away with anything, and just did worse and worse stuff. I've heard similar things about his burning people with blowtorches and watching their faces as he did it.The reason he got away with it all though is that he was still just an effective leader. I remember hearing Reta say "he would never tell you to do anything he wouldn't do himself". And he seemed really intelligent.Hope he stays in prison. I hate to think of more innocent people suffering at his hands.

fucking z40 knows how to impress pendejos like reta,and how to burn people alive,that is why without lazca,trevino lasted 6 fucking months,because he is so"smart",the smartest of all of the mas pendejos

Z40 was smart up until he decided to kill Lalo Moreira. It was all over for him and Lazca after that. Hindsight is 20/20, however, his fate was sealed. You don't kill the son of a powerful ex-Priista governor and the nephew of his predecessor, and expect to get away with it! They bit the hand that feeds! When you rob the state of Coahuila of more than $300mil.USD and get away with it, your powerful. That money helped finance the pres. campaign of PRIISTA EPN. Who does anybody think protected Z3, Z40, and Zetas in Coahuila from 2005-2011.?